Lubricator.



Patanted July I, |902.

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JOHN GOTTBREHT, OF MONTROSE, KANSAS.

LUBRICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 703,403, dated July 1, 1902.

Application filed December 16, 1901. Serial No. 86,1574. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it 77mg/ concern.-

Beit known that I, JOHN GOTTBREHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Montrose,

in the county ofJewell and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Lubricator, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for. lubricating shafts, and is` particularly designed to provide improved means of this character for lubricating the bearings of vertical shafts and to maintain said bearings normally submerged in a liquid lubricating element, so as to obviate heating of the bearing and gumming of the lubricant.

It is furthermore designed to facilitate the application of the oil-containing cup or reservoir to a vertical shaft without requiring the unstepping of the latter or removal of the bearings thereof and also to provide for vertical adjustment of the cup or reservoir upon the shaft, so as to fit the same to a bearing.

Another object is to have the cup or reservoir carried by and rotatable 4with the shaft, so as to be entirely independent of the bearing.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in thea@- companyin g drawin gs,and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form,proportion, size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view showing the present form of lubrioator applied to a shaft. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View thereof. Fig. 3 is an inverted detail perspective view of ashaft-bearing and hanger therefor. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one section ofthe lubricator cup or casing.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, l designates au ordinary upright rotatable shaft having a bearing 2, which in accordance with the present invention is supported in a fixed position by means of brackets or hangers 3 and 4, which depend from a ceiling or suitable supporting-frame, as indicated at 5, the shaft being projected through the bearing and either terminated short of the frame 5 or eX- v tended through the same, as may be desired.

The essential object of-` the present invention is to maintain the bearing 2 submerged in a liquid lubricant, and to carry out this feature of the invention there is provided a cup or casing 6, which preferably has upwardly-diverged sides and is open at its top. This cup or casing is made in vertical halfsections, so as to be conveniently applied to the shaft from opposite sides thereof without requiring that the shaft be unstepped. The bottom 7 of each cup-section is provided with a central semicircular opening 8 for the reception of one-half of the shaft and also has diametrically opposite outwardlyprojected perforate ears or lugs 9, which register .with the correspondinglugs or ears of the other cupsection, so that said corresponding ears may be connected by means of a screw-fastening l0, piercing the corresponding ears. In addition to connecting the half-sections of the cup or casing the fastenings 10 also serve as clamps to bind the bottom sections of the cup snugly upon the shaft, so that the cup may be held at any vertical position thereon to rotate therewith. One of the bottom sections is also provided with a drain-opening l'lfor the purpose of draining dirty oil from the cup, and this opening is normally closedby means of a suitable plug 12, which is accessible from the bottom of the cup.

As plainly indicated in Fig. 2, it will be seen that the cup is adjusted upon the shaft so as to entirely embrace the bearing 2, whereby the latter is wholly submerged in the liquid lubricant which has been poured into the cup just prior to the final clamping of the latter upon the shaft, as the top of the cup when in its final position may be too closeto a ceiling or other structure to permit of the lubricant being poured into thecup.

It will here be noted that the lubricatingcup is wholly separate from the fixed bearing of the shaft and is carried by the latter only and rotates therewith, whereby the liquid lubricant remains practically stationary and IOO is thereby not liable to become spilled or thrown out over the upper edge of the cup by centrifugal action, as the cup rotates upon a central axis afforded by the shaft, and therefore little or no motion is transferred to the liquid lubricant. j

From the foregoing description it is apparant that after the cup has once been filled with a lubricant it does not require constant attention and need be filled only at comparatively long intervals. As the bearing is wholly submerged within the lubricant, and that portion of the shaft which is within the cup and exterior of the bearing is in direct contact with the lubricant, the latter is effectively applied to the friction-surfaces of the shaft and bearing, and therefore heating of the latter is reduced to the minimum. Moreover, there is comparatively no waste lubricant, and as the level of the lubricantA falls the cup may be raised or adjusted vertically upon the shaft, so as to again bring the level of the lubricant above the bearing, should it not be convenient to add to the lubricant already in the cup. When the seetions are loosened to permit vertical adjustment, there will of course be some leakage of the lubricant through the bottom of the cup; but as the time occupied by adjusting the cup is very short the escape of lubricant will be s0 slight that it will not inconvenience the party making the adjustment, and the effect upon the entire volume of lubricant will be hardly appreciable.

In order that the upper open end of the cup or casing 6 may be closed, to the exclusion of dust and foreign matter, there is provided a hood 13, preferably of some flexible or textile material, which is secured to the frame 2 by means of suitable fastenings 14:, from which the hood depends, and is provided at its lower end with a metallic ring or band l5,to form a weight, so as to hold the hood in a taut condition. It will be understood that the diameter of the lower end of the hood is slightly greater than the bottom of the oil-cup 6, so as to prevent contact therewith, and also extends a short distance below the bottom of the cup, whereby there is only a comparatively small marginal opening between the bottom of the hood and the bottom of the oilcup, and therefore it ,is practically impossible for any amount of foreign matter to pass upwardly between the hood and the cup and into the lubricant contained by the latter.

In view of the fact that the hood is formed of iiexible or textile material it is collapsible, so that the lower edge portion thereof may be conveniently raised or forced upwardly to expose the oil-cup for adjustment, refilling, &c.

By reason of the endwise adjustment of the oil-cup it may be convenientlymoved away from the bearing, so as to expose the same, for

convenience in tightening the bearing whenever necessary.

l. The combination of a rotatable shaft, a stationary bearing therefor, a sectional lubricant-containing cup or casing carried by the shaft and embracing the bearing to normally submerge the latter in a lubricant, and means for drawing the sections of the cup into engagement with the shaft to adjust the cup endwise thereon.

2. The combination of an upright rotatable shaft, a stationary bearing therefor, a sectional open-topped lubricant-containing cup or casing carried by the shaft and normally embracing the bearing to submerge the latter in a lubricant, and fastenings connecting the sections of the cup to bind the same upon the shaft.

3. A lubricator, comprising an open-topped cup or casing formed in longitudinal halfsections, the inner edges of the bottoms of the sections having corresponding shaftopenings, and fastenings connecting the sections to clamp the same upon a shaft.

4. A lubricator, comprising an open-topped cup or casing formed in vertical half-sections, the inner edges 0f the bottom of the sections having corresponding shaft-openings, corresponding ears located at the opposite ends of the inner edges of the cup-bottom, and clamping-fastenings piercing the corresponding ears to clamp the cup upon a shaft.

5. The combination with a frame, of a hanger pendent therefrom, a bearing carried by the hanger, an upright shaft journaled in the bearing, a lubricating-cup carried by the shaft and embracing the bearing, and a hood pendent from the frame and embracing the cup to exclude foreign mattei' therefrom.

6. The combination with a support, of a bearing, a shaft journaled in the bearing, a lubricating-cup carried by the shaft and embracing the bearing, and a collapsible hood pendent from the support and embracing the cup to exclude foreign matter therefrom.

7. The combination with a support, of a bearing, an upright shaft journaled in the bearing, a lubricatingcup carried by the shaft and embracing the bearing, and a flexible hood hung from the support and embracing the cup to exclude foreign matter therefrom, the lower end of the hood being provided with a weightedband to hold the hood distended.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN GOT'IBREHT.

Witnesses:

BENJ. Dix, W. L. MCCAMMEN.

IOO 

